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Re:iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews by ajmurmann on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @09:43PM (#13478001)
I understand that that is a bad position for developers to be in, but is that the user's problem? Also assuming users showing this behaviour are evenly distributed across apps, didn't this end up not mattering?
Re:iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews by prawn on Tuesday January 24, 2017 @11:37PM (#13478570)
It becomes the users' problem when app development becomes unsustainable due to serious difficulties like this. If you're a good developer playing a clean game, you will lose out to more aggressive developers.

Personally I don't think it ends up not mattering because you get better results with the dark pattern people have outlined - ask how they feel about the app, then route positive people to review, or negative people to a feedback form.

Just sucks when someone rates your entire app 1* because of a single, small decision made, despite you having made great decisions at every other point.

Re:iOS and MacOS Developers Can Now Respond to Reviews by jclardy on Wednesday January 25, 2017 @07:56AM (#13480995)
It is a problem because in the end developers will just move to the next big platform. Right now Apple and Google essentially charge 30% just for card processing and distribution. Discoverability is no longer a benifit of the App Store.

The problem is that anything other than small, one trick apps are unsustainable. Look at Sketch for example - a perfect app for the iPad form factor but it doesn't exist because the App Store economy sucks.

The thing is it isn't just discoverability, but there are way more problems to deal with. Especially in terms of customer service. As a dev you get no info from a purchase of your app unless you mainuallu collect it inside your app. Have an upset customer and want to refund them? You can't. Want to discount an existing user for a new paid version? It is a super awkward process with app bundles. Want to give out a coupon code for a new product to existing users of another? Nope, can't do that.